As important as bandaids™ in your home (and travel) first aid kit...
In 1813 French chemist M. Bertrand swallowed an otherwise lethal dose of arsenic mixed with activated charcoal and survived. In 1831 Professor Touery demonstrated the effectiveness of activated charcoal to his Academie Française medical colleagues by ingesting 10 times the lethal dose of strychnine followed by activated charcoal – he too survived.
Activated charcoal has been used increasingly in hospitals around the world for poisoning ever since. (We do not recommend you try these experiments yourself).
Activated charcoal is now the treatment of choice world wide for most emergency care poisoning and drug overdose patients. Activated charcoal is produced by super heating carbon in a high oxygen environment. This process increases carbon’s adsorptive properties (the attraction and accumulation of gases, liquids, or solutes on its surface) up to 2000 times. This superb adsorptive quality is what makes activated charcoal so useful. Whilst activated charcoal does not bind all substances, it is superbly effective for adsorbing intestinal gas, toxins from food poisoning, most drugs and many poisonous substances, before they can reach the blood stream.
One gram of activated charcoal has an adsorptive surface area equivalent to two tennis courts!
Ongoing research has shown that administration of activated charcoal at hospital emergency care facilities rarely occurs within the recommended one hour post poisoning. Internationally, off site emergency medical service staff are now trained to administer activated charcoal before arrival at the hospital, however, delays are still common.
At home or when travelling to foreign countries, having Nature’s Way
® Activated Charcoal on hand is very useful in cases of food poisoning, “delhi belly” and excessive intestinal gas – for family and pets.
Be prepared for the unthinkable, keep a well stocked first aid kit on hand in the house and car, take a first aid course so you know what to do in a medical emergency and always seek immediate medical advice when needed, especially when a toxic substance has been ingested. Activated charcoal is not recommended for long term use as the high adsorbency may reduce the absorption of medications, vitamins and minerals.
It's worth adding Nature’s Way® Activated Charcoal to your shopping list while still fresh in your mind.
(First published in Health & Herbal News Magazine Vol. 17 Issue 1)